RHONDDA CYNON TAF COUNCIL

CABINET

11TH SEPTEMBER 2019

CLOSURE OF GELLI RECYCLING CENTRE

REPORT OF THE GROUP DIRECTOR FOR PROSPERITY, DEVELOPMENT AND FRONTLINE SERVICES IN DISCUSSION WITH CABINET MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT, LEISURE & HERITAGE SERVICES, COUNCILLOR A CRIMMINGS.

1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

The purpose of this report is to provide the Cabinet with an update on the recent consultation in regard to the closure of Gelli Community Recycling Centre.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that Cabinet:-

2.1 Agree to the closure of the Gelli Recycling Centre.

3. BACKGROUND

3.1 Gelli CRC is based on Nant-Y-Gwyddon-Road. Due to the size of the centre, limited access and poor parking arrangements, it is unable to provide the same service as the other six CRCs based in the County Borough. The centre has also been subjected to a high number of break-ins over the last 5years and has been the target of vandalism - as such the level of services it is able to offer residents is greatly reduced and less cost effective than other sites.

3.2 The CRC currently offers a greatly reduced service to residents, compared to its neighbouring CRCs in , which is just 3 miles away, and Dinas, which is just 3 miles away. Treherbert and Dinas CRCs have recently been upgraded/extended due to the floor space available at the sites and offer a wide range of recycling/reuse facilities - including the recently opened "The Shed", re-use shop at Treherbert. Conversely, the Gelli CRC is unable to be extended due to the topography of the surrounding land.

3.3 The current usage of the Gelli site is far less than both Treherbert and Dinas, and on average Gelli takes in 100t per month, whilst Treherbert averages over 400t per month and Dinas 700t per month

3.4 The Council currently offers its residents more CRCs than any other Local Authority in - which are located right across the County Borough and within a short drive of RCT households, giving residents access to recycling facilities 7-days-a-week, including bank holidays.

3.5 If the decision to close Gelli is agreed, the valley would still have 3 CRC’s in it namely Treherbert, Dinas and Ferndale whilst the former Taf would have 2 and the would only have the one site at

3.6 Due to the above the Council undertook a consultation on the future of Gelli CRC, which aimed to gather views on the potential future use of the site and whether it is still fit for purpose and financially viable. As part of the consultation we had 11 written responses in regard to the closure of the site.

4. METHODOLOGY

4.1 The Consultation took place between the 8th July and the 5th August.

4.2 Further information, including a frequently asked questions sheet was available on the Council’s Consultation page, www.rctcbc.gov.uk/consultation.

4.3 Views were requested via email [email protected] or by writing to the Consultation Freepost address. An email was sent to local Councillors AMs and MPs and social media advertised the consultation.

5. RESULTS

5.1 11 written responses were received to the consultation. The following is a brief summary of the comments received:-

• Objection/Concern of the closure of the site:-

- Would make it harder for people to recycle – the extra distance and effort involved would mean that some people would not recycle. Some people don’t drive and walk to the site presently.

- Increase fly-tipping – this was a concern for most of the respondents.

- Acknowledgement that there are alternatives and the distance is under 4 miles, however this is stated to not take account of the congestion in the area and the time it can take to travel at peak times.

• Alternatives:-

- Could use the site for specific recycling.

- Reduce the hours instead of closing.

• Loss of services – a feeling that other Council services have recently been lost in the area and that this was a continuance of this, e.g. library, Day Centre, etc.

6. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IMPLICATIONS

6.1 There are no Equality and Diversity implications aligned to this report..

7. CONSULTATION

7.1 The necessary consultation process has been undertaken.

8. FINANCIAL IMPLICATION(S)

8.1 The current annual cost of Gelli CRC amounts to £100k. The saving realised as a consequence of the closure will be factored into the council’s medium term financial plan.

9. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OR LEGISLATION CONSIDERED

9.1 There are no legal implications aligned to this report.

10. LINKS TO CORPORATE AND NATIONAL PRIORITIES AND WELL-BEING OF FUTURE GENERATIONS ACT

10.1 The recycling processes we adopted align themselves to the Corporate Plan and Corporate Priorities.

10.2 This is linked with the Well Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, helping to create a resilient Wales and a Wales of cohesive communities.

10.3 The Council’s response to Net Zero – the Committee on Climate change was recently reported to Cabinet on the 18th June, 2019.

10.4 The report seeks to understand its impact on the environment and respond to the issues set out in the Committee on Climate Change Report – Net Zero. The future actions that arise as a result of the recommendations in the report will set out new requirements of the new Council Corporate Plan and will take full regard to the 7 National Wellbeing goals

11. CONCLUSIONS

11.1 RCT Council is proud of its recycling services and prides itself on being at the forefront of continuous improvement in this area, this closure will not change this and RCT will still exceed the recommended number of CRC’s per household.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972

AS AMENDED BY

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) ACT 1985

RHONDDA CYNON TAF COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL

CABINET

11th SEPTEMBER 2019

REPORT OF THE GROUP DIRECTOR FOR PROSPERITY, DEVELOPMENT AND FRONTLINE SERVICES IN DISCUSSION WITH CABINET MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENT, LEISURE & HERITAGE SERVICES

Item

CLOSURE OF GELLI COMMUNITY RECYCLING CENTRE

Background Papers

None.

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